Daily Download: What Trump’s skepticism toward the Intelligence Community is truly about?
16 days away from the Inauguration Day, the President-elect Donald J. Trump announced this morning his decision to appoint Jay Clayton, the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Clayton is an expert on financial regulatory law and is a partner with Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. To Trump’s administration, he will bring experience in helping companies navigate complex federal regulations. According to the Transition team, Clayton will play an important role in unleashing the job-creating power of our economy by encouraging investment in American companies while providing strong oversight of Wall Street and related industries.
The incoming Press Secretary Sean Spicer affirmed today that the robust accountability will be a hallmark of Clayton’s tenure as well as the financial security of the American people.
“Jay Clayton is a highly talented expert on many aspects of financial and regulatory law, and he will ensure our financial institutions can thrive and create jobs while playing by the rules at the same time. We need to undo many regulations which have stifled investment in American businesses, and restore oversight of the financial industry in a way that does not harm American workers,” said President-elect Trump.
Trump’s strained relationship with the Intelligence community
As a clarification to President-elect’s tweets questioning the intelligence community, the incoming Press Secretary Sean Spicer insisted that there are two types of briefings the President-elect Trump is receiving.
There is a Presidential Daily Briefing which he receives three times a week. These briefings are composed of raw data that the Intel committee provides for him. He then receives every day the updates from his National Security team, and these security updates contain an analysis of the raw data and policy recommendations or actions he might want to assume once he is in the office.
With respect to the updates on Russia’s involvement in the cyber hack, last week President-Elect has scheduled the intelligence briefing for Friday in New York. Sean Spicer has confirmed that the CIA director John O. Brennan, FBI director James Comey and director of National Intelligence (DNI), Jim Clapper will be present at the briefing too.
What the President-elect Trump wants to distinguish are the raw data and the conclusions from that raw data. While the briefer presents the raw data and facts from the ground, the political staff provides the President-elect Trump and others with the analysis and recommendations of the raw intelligence. President-Elect is more skeptical about the conclusions, not the raw data, so that is why he is looking forward to Friday’s meeting. What President-Elect Trump is interested to be clarified is how the raw intelligence justifies the conclusions presented to him, once he sees the final report.
We will continue to provide details about the transition and will resume with our Daily Download tomorrow.
Read more: We Must Be Hesitant To Frame Russian Cyber Hack As Necessarily “Pro-Trump.”